December 04, 2007

The geography of job insecurity

To their supporters, pilot schools are laboratories for fresh educational ideas that eventually can be applied to traditional schools. The union says it supports pilot schools in theory, but clearly it cannot buy into an educational idea that involves tossing union protections out the window.

"You can be removed from the building you've been teaching in for 15 years, and moved to the other side of the city," said Stephen Crawford, a BTU spokesman. "That's just one of the collective bargaining rights teachers sacrifice."

Crawford's concern is understandable but also a bit disorienting, since we've become accustomed to reading about people afraid that their jobs are going to move to the other side of the country, if not the world. Another example of how everyone has a different perspective in a global economy.